Fortuna Duesseldorf Moves to Top Flight After Aggregate Win Over Berlin

 Duesseldorf joins Greuther Furth and Eintracht Frankfurt to be promoted to the Bundesliga.  A 4-3 aggregate win over Hertha BSC Berlin assured the promotion.  Berlin will be playing in the 2. Bundesliga next year.

Fortuna Duesseldorf started the relegation battle with a 2-1 victory in Berlin.  This made it difficult for Berlin to win the second leg by aggregate in Duesseldorf.

It took less than a minute for Fortuna Duesseldorf's Maximillian Beistner to score the first goal after a low pass from Ilsoe. He took the pass went around Roman Hubnik and fired a shot from 23 meters in the lower right corner of the net.  1-0 Duesseldorf (aggregate 3-1).

Berlin gained in composure as the game went on and it finally paid off for the Berliners in the 23rd minute, when Ronny took a freekick from the left side perfectly into the box and Ben-Hatira went up to put a header into the right corner of the net.  1-1 (3-2 Duesseldorf aggregate).

After one half of play, Duesseldorf initially put on the pressure which resulted in the first goal in just 25 seconds, however Berlin got better as the game went on.  It eventually got Berlin the equalizer.  With the pressure placed on Duesseldorf the result could have been much more in favour of the Berliners.

As the second half started Berlin continued to control much of the game.  However a Yellow/Red card,  in the 54th minute, given to Ben Hatira, he fouled Lambertz, gave Duesseldorf a one man advantage.

Just five minutes later Jovanovic's goal in the 59th minute gave Duesseldorf a 2-1 lead, 4-2 aggregate.  Thomas Broeker delivered a pass into the six meter box, where Jovanovic put it away with a header just inside the post. 

Duesseldorf kept the pressure on Berlin and missed a couple of excellent chances.  A lapse in Duesseldorf's defence gave Berlin the opportunity to equalize the the match, when Raffael snatched up the ball from Ramos and placed it in the lower right corner. 2-2.

After an extensive delay, when fans thought the game was over, the game continued for the last 90 seconds.  Duesseldorf managed to hang on for a 4-3 aggregate win and is promoted to the top flight.

Hertha BSC Berlin:  Thomas Kraft - Holland, Hubnik, Janker(Patrick Ebert 72nd( , Lell (Rukavytsya 72nd) - Kobiasshvili, Niedermeyer - Ben Hatira, Raffael, Ebert - Ramos

Fortuna Duesseldorf:   Ratajczak - Van den Bergh, Langeneke, Lukimya-Mulongo, Levels - Lambertz (Juanan 89th), Fink, Bodzek, Broeker - Beister (Matushyk 77th), Ilsoe (Ivanovic 46th)

Bundesliga Relegation First Leg Berlin vs Duesseldorf

The first leg of the Bundesliga relegation match between 16th place Hertha BSC Berlin got underway today in the Olympia Stadion in Berlin in front of 70,000 fans.  Berlin was the favourite, despite the fact that they had to secure 16th place on the last matchday of the Bundesliga.  Duesseldorf had to concede direct promotion to Eintracht Frankfurt on the last matchday of the 2nd flight.

Duesseldorf started the match with a strong performance in the first ten minutes.  After the initial phase Otto Rehagel's side slowly overtook the control of the game and scored in the 20th minute,  after corner from the left side.  Ben-Hatira delivered the ball into the centre of the penalty box, which Roman Hubnik headed into the left corner of the target. For the remainder of the half Duesseldorf was unable to break out of their half.  Berlin missed several chances to increase the lead.  At halftime the teams parted with a 1-0 lead for Berlin.

Berlin continued to dominate during the opening segment of the second half but Duesseldorf came from nowhere and equaled the score.   Broeker moved around three Berliners in the penalty box and was in front of Thomas Kraft with no one to challenge him.  He fired the ball into the short corner for the 1-1 in the 64th minute. 

Things went from good to worse for Berlin when Adrian Ramos put the ball into his own net, giving Duesseldorf a 1-2 lead. 

While Duesseldorf picked up the pace in the final fifteen minutes, both teams had a opportunity to score.  Berlin's biggest chance was in the 88th minute when Ronny fired a free kick straight at the goal from 25 meters.  Bad luck had it that the ball hammered the right goal post.  In the 90th minute, Broker took a shot at Thomas Kraft's goal, but the keeper made a strong save, deflecting the ball around the goal post.

Fortuna Duesseldorf wins the first leg 2-1 and will now host Berlin in Duesseldorf on the 15th for the second leg.  While Berliner's did not get the result they hoped for, they can look forward to the DFB Pokal final on Saturday when FC Bayern battles Borussia Dortmund for the coveted cup.



Hertha BSC Berlin:  Thomas Kraft - Janker, Niemeyer, Hubnik, Holland - Perdedaj (Ronny 70th), Kobiasvili - Ebert (Torun 73rd), Raffael, Ben-Hatira - Ramos


Fortuna Duesseldorf: - Ratajczak - van den Bergh, Laneneke, Lukimya-Mulongoti, Levels -  Bodzek (Juanan 89th) - Lambertz, Fink, Boeker - Fink - Ilso (Matushyk 72nd) - Beister (Jovanovic 57th)

Promotion to Bundesliga - The Final Battle

The 2. Bundesliga season is now in the books an there are two new faces that will be a mainstay in the Bundesliga next season.  Greuther Furth won the 2. Bundesliga championship with 70 points, while Eintracht Frankfurt came in second with 68 points.   The third spot and an opportunity to go into a play off with 16th place in the Bundesliga was captured on the last matchday by Fortuna Duesseldorf. 

Greuther Furth completed the season with 20 wins, 10 draws and 4 losses and a goal tally of  73-27.  Eintracht Frankfurt's season ended with 20 wins, 8 draws and 6  losses, with 76-33 goals.  

For Fortuna Duesseldorf the playoff spot for promotion came down to goal difference with FC St. Pauli.  Although tied for points at 62, Duesseldorf and four more goals in its goal tally at +29 to +25. 

1. FC Kaiserslautern and 1. FC Koeln will take the direct path of relegation to the 2. Bundesliga.  Although Koeln led Hertha after Matchday 33, a defeat handed to them by FC Bayern and a vital win for Otto Rehagel's Berlin outfit catapulted the Berliners into 16th place, with an opportunity to remain in the Bundeslig with a series of two playoffs against Duesseldorf.

The relegation matches will be played on May 10th in Berlin and May 15th in Duesseldorf.

Berliners will host two vital matches next week, one being the relegation match and on the 12th the DFB Cup final between Borussia Dortmund and FC Bayern on May 12th.

The final competition for the crown of the Champions League will take place in the Allianz Stadium in Munich, when FC Bayern hosts Chelsea on May 19th.

There will be no rest for the wicked though, many of the Dortmund and Bayern players will  join the German national side in preparation of the European Championship, which starts on June 18th, with venues in the Ukraine and Poland.

There should be no soccer drought this summer, while fans wait for the next Bundesliga season to kick off.